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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29942925">Remus Lupin and the Year Everyone Was An Idiot</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siriusblackisgendergoals/pseuds/Siriusblackisgendergoals'>Siriusblackisgendergoals</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Eventual Jily - Freeform, Eventual Wolfstar - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Oblivious Sirius Black, Severus Snape Bashing, Sirius Black Has Nightmares, Slow Burn, Trans Sirius Black, eventual dorlene, remus and dorcas are just pining, snape is a bitch nobody likes snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:48:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,554</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29942925</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siriusblackisgendergoals/pseuds/Siriusblackisgendergoals</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius and Marlene are dating. Remus and Dorcas are jealous, and decide to fake date. James and Lily are growing closer. Snape is angry and ugly. Really, it's just a bunch of dumb teenagers pining.<br/>Also, the invisibility cloak is missing. </p><p>Disclaimer:<br/>While all these characters belong to JK Rowling, I hate her, and do not support her bigoted views!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Remus Lupin/Dorcas Meadowes, Sirius Black/Marlene McKinnon, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Hogwarts express chugged out of the station, and Remus pushed through the kids clamoring into compartments, looking for the familiar flash of silver eyes and a leather jacket. James had sent him to find Sirius, which really shouldn’t be a hard feat, considering the fact that they had all come there together. </p><p>It was the start of their sixth year, and over the summer James had invited Remus and Sirius, along with Peter, Marlene, Dorcas, and Lily over for the summer. Lily, of course, denied the offer, but around the start of August, she had owled James, asking if the invitation was still open. Her sister had finally pushed her to her limits, and she just wanted to get away. </p><p>Remus wondered if James and his family <em> liked </em> taking in runaways - first Sirius, the year before, and now Lily. </p><p>Now it was September first, and the group had all clambered onto the train together, and in the chaos, Sirius and Marlene had gotten separated. James, refusing to be without Sirius for the train ride, because they “<em> always </em> sit together, it’s a tradition that I’m not about to break now,”  had sent Remus and Dorcas to find the two. They had split up, figuring that it would be quicker. </p><p>James, the hypocritical bastard, didn’t go himself. Probably because Lily was actually talking to him, and he didn’t want to waste any of that time before she went back to hating him. Remus could understand that. But he also didn’t want to walk in on Sirius and Marlene snogging. </p><p>Sirius and Marlene had announced that they were dating around the end of August. They had all been swimming in the lake near James’ house, but Sirius and Marlene had said that they needed to eat lunch, and had stayed behind. </p><p>The two had arrived at the lake, holding hands, and had told the rest of them that they had gotten together. Remus’ heart had dropped to his stomach, and he spent the rest of the day avoiding the two, although it wasn’t hard. It seemed as if they were determined to do as much PDA as possible. </p><p>It was Remus’ hope that they would calm down on the PDA once they were back at school, but it didn’t seem like that was going to happen. </p><p>He sighed quietly, seeing Marlene and Sirius heavily making out in an empty compartment. Time to go break them up and tell them to get back to the group - but he didn’t. He just stood there, frozen, eyes trained on the two. </p><p>Sirius’ hand was tangled in Marlene’s blond hair, and Marlene was shifting so she was straddling his lap, and Sirius’ other hand traveled from her waist, slowly up her shirt - </p><p>A strangled noise came from a few feet away from him, and Remus’ head snapped over to see Dorcas, eyes wide, staring at the couple. “<em> Dorcas </em>?” He hissed quietly, as to not alert Sirius and Marlene. </p><p>Dorcas spun to Remus, looking guilty. “I -” She grabbed Remus by the wrist and pulled him into a compartment with a couple of first years. “Out,” she ordered them. “Now.” </p><p>They looked terrified as they scrambled to get up, and her gaze softened. “Sorry, we only need this for a few minutes. Then you can have your compartment back.” </p><p>Once the first years were out, Remus glanced at Dorcas. “Were you watching them?”</p><p>“You were literally doing the same thing!” </p><p>The two stared at each other for a moment before Dorcas huffed. </p><p>“So you like Marlene. I can’t blame you, honestly, everyone likes Marlene, <em> I </em> fucking like Marlene and that right there is the whole problem, because she’s over there snogging a boy -” </p><p>“Hold on, hold on, rewind.”</p><p>“You heard me, Lupin, and I didn’t think you would have a problem with that, but-” </p><p>“No! No, no, not that, I don’t care - well, yes, well, no -” Remus closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get his words to work. “You think I like <em> Marlene </em>?” </p><p>“I mean… yeah. You were watching them and the only girl there is - oh? Oh. Oh!” Dorcas’ eyes widened as she realized. “You like Sirius!” </p><p>“Yes. I like Sirus. I’m… gay. Don’t tell anyone.” </p><p>“Oh. Okay.” </p><p>“And you… like Marlene?” </p><p>Dorcas sighed. “Yeah.” </p><p>They were silent for a second, before Remus snorted, and they both dissolved into laughter. </p><p>“I don’t - this shouldn’t be funny. Why is this funny?” <br/>Dorcas shook her head. “Well, we just caught each other watching the people we like snog.” </p><p>“Yeah…” Remus slumped against the compartment door. “Yeah. This kinda fucking sucks.” </p><p>“We should snog,” Dorcas glared at the wall. </p><p>Remus blinked. “Sorry, what?” </p><p>“We should snog, we should kiss. Make them jealous.” </p><p>“I… really don’t think kissing in front of them once will do much.” </p><p>“Okay, then we do it more than once. Honestly, let’s just… date. Like, not actually date, but fake date. Try and see if we can make them jealous.” </p><p>Remus hesitated. His brain told him to tell Dorcas no, that it was a bad thing to try and break up a happy relationship… but there was only so much logic a hormonal teenager could listen to. </p><p>Sirius kissing Marlene flashed through his mind. Sirius holding hands with Marlene - Sirius squeezing Remus’ hand tight while Remus comforted him after one of Sirius’ frequent nightmares. Sirius hugging Marlene, his arms around her waist - Sirius’ arms around Remus’ waist, hands tangling in his hair after a particularly bad full moon, holding him close. </p><p>And he made a decision. “Okay.”</p><p>“Okay?” </p><p>“Okay. Let’s date, let’s snog, let’s make them jealous.” </p><p>Dorcas grinned. “Right. So. Let’s like… plan this out. Are we going for a slowburn here, or are we just gonna wake up one day and tell everyone that we’re dating, like they did?” </p><p>Remus grinned, the familiar fire in his stomach that burned with excitement whenever he was planning a prank lighting up. That’s all this was, really. Just another prank. </p><p>“Oh, I think we should take it slow. Flirt all the time, but never actually… do anything.” </p><p>“Ooh, ooh! And then one day, we should like… set up something like a trap, a place they’ll walk in on us, and have them walk in on us snogging.” </p><p>“Yes! And then like… we can date. And then just PDA, all the time, in front of them.” </p><p>“Oh, man, oh man, this is gonna be great.” Dorcas bounced on the balls of her feet, eyes gleaming.  </p><p>“Yeah,” Remus grinned. “Do you think we should go get them now?” </p><p>“Damn, forgot about that,” Dorcas nodded.</p><p>  The two opened the door of the compartment, and nodded to the fidgety first years who had been standing outside. “It’s all yours,” Remus told them, before glancing over to the compartment that Sirius and Marlene were in. </p><p>“They’re gone!” Dorcas exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. “Now we have to search for them again.”</p><p>“Maybe they went back,” Remus suggested. </p><p>The two walked back to their compartment, where Sirius and Marlene indeed were, Marlene sitting on Sirius’ lap as they talked with the others. </p><p>Remus sighed quietly, pushing open the door, and James snorted. </p><p>“Took you two quite a while.” </p><p>“Was it that hard to find us?” Sirius asked, amused. </p><p>“Well, I’m not exactly a Hufflepuff,” Remus joked, and Dorcas shrugged.</p><p>“We got… distracted,” she said lightly, then sent a half smirk in Remus’ direction. His cheeks flushed pink. </p><p>The flirting was starting now, it seemed. </p><p>Marlene narrowed her eyes at the two. “Distracted? What do you mean?” </p><p>“We were just talking, get your head out of the gutter,” Remus responded, a little bit too quickly. </p><p><em> Technically, I’m not lying </em>, he thought as he sat down next to James. </p><p>“Oookay…” Marlene hesitated, before shrugging a little bit. “Did you two hear about what happened to Peter?” </p><p>Dorcas shook her head, and Peter grinned. <br/>“So, I was trying to get to our compartment, right, when I ran into Snivellus, acting all sketchy…” </p><p>Remus settled in, listening to Peter’s story, his friends’ voices and the rumble of the train lulling him to sleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello! quick note - i'm american, so if i make an attempt at using british slang and mess it up, feel free to point it out!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Remus woke up to James gently shaking him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Remus. We’re here.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm. Kay,” Remus yawned, rubbing his neck. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to fall asleep in, but it beat collapsing into sleep on the floor of the Shrieking Shack. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Shrieking Shack. Remus grimaced. The first moon back to school was always the worst - but it wasn’t here yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shaking his head slightly to push those thoughts out of his mind, Remus gathered his things and followed his friends out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loud voices floated out of the compartment across from them, and Remus glanced over to see Snape and his friends. Severus looked over, and their eyes met. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Disgust flickered over Snape’s face, and Remus swallowed. The last time the two of them had really interacted…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It had been January, the year before. Sirius had told Snape to follow Remus during the full moon, thinking that it would be funny. It wasn’t. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James ended up having to save Snivellus’ life. Remus hadn’t talked to Sirius for months after, even though Sirius had apologized and begged and cried. Remus was angry, and rightfully so. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a while, though, the anger behind his eyes began to fade, and he saw that Sirius was truly sorry. Remus forgave him, but it still took a while to strengthen their friendship again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the fact still remained that Snape knew his secret. And that was terrifying. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey. Ignore them. You coming?” Sirius’ voice broke into his thoughts, gesturing to the others who were getting off the train. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Remus nodded, shooting a smile at Sirius, and hurried to catch up with his friends. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m surprised you didn’t wake up to a dick drawn on your face,” Dorcas commented to Remus when he had reached them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What, you think we would do that?” James asked, looking offended.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are the Marauders, aren’t you? Pranking extraordinaires, or whatever it is you call yourselves?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, </span>
  <span><em>extraordinaires</em>. We wouldn’t waste our time on some silly little twelve year old prank like that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Remus nodded. “Our pranks are well thought out and developed, Dorcas, it’s a serious business.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sirius smirked. “Yeah, it is quite a </span>
  <em>
    <span>Sirius</span>
  </em>
  <span> business.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Remus groaned, and hit his friend on the arm lightly. “Stop.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Besides,” Peter piped up. “We wouldn’t betray Remus like that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Marauders stick together,” Sirius nodded. “We’re a team!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marlene shook her head. “Sounds more like a gang.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A gang!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, one that’s slightly…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stupid?” Lily offered, and Marlene grinned. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Exactly.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Stupid</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” Sirius exclaimed. “Remus, tell Lily that the Marauders aren’t stupid!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lily, the Marauders aren’t stupid. Sirius, however, is.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span>.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Remus grinned, but it quickly fell as he saw a person approaching them. He had hoped not to see him again today. “Snivellus incoming,” he warned, and saw Lily stiffen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t call him that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lily!” Snape called, nearing them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey,” Lily responded. </span>
</p>
<p><span>Snape looked at the group, his lip curling. “What are you doing with </span><em><span>them</span></em><span>?” </span><span><br/></span> <span>“I can have my own friends, can I not?” </span></p>
<p><span>“I mean, yeah, but… them?”</span><span><br/></span> <span>“What’s wrong with them? I don’t like your friends either!” </span></p>
<p>
  <span>“They’re just…” Snape’s eyes landed on James, and the contempt grew on his face. James glared at him, Sirius stepping up to his side. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re not what?” James snapped. “Racist, like you and your friends? Part of a pureblood supremacist group? I think it’s obvious that we’re better people than you, and you don’t like that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fuck you,” Snape spat, turning on his heel and striding away. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a moment of silence, the tension in the air crackling, before Lily whirled on James. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can fight my own battles, Potter!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know that -” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You obviously don’t -” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>do</span>
  </em>
  <span>, I just don’t understand why you’re still friends with him -” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then keep out of things you don’t understand! It’s not any of your bloody business! God!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was Lily’s turn to spin on her heel and run away, and James jolted a step forward. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait -” he started, but Remus grabbed his arm before he could go after her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let her cool off, James.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>James sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. “Okay. Fine. I - SHIT!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The group jumped at James’ yell, startled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I forgot the pranking bag on the train - shit, shit, I’ll be back in a second -” He sprinted off, back towards the train. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Every summer, they packed up all their various pranking materials, the invisibility cloak, the Marauders map, all that fun stuff, and put them into a bag. They always sent it home with James, because Remus was messy and would lose it, Peter was forgetful and would lose it, and they couldn’t risk Sirius’ parents finding it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pranking bag?” Dorcas inquired. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just a bag with our pranking materials,” Peter explained. Marlene and Dorcas looked at each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Pranking materials</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” they snorted in unison, and Sirius threw his hands up in the air. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about that is so funny?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Marlene and Dorcas argued with them about how stupid they apparently sounded all the way to the Great Hall, where James caught up with them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As they sat down for the Sorting Ceremony, Lily came in at the last minute. The only spot left was between Remus and James, and Remus saw her huff in annoyance. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She sat down as far away from James as possible, scooching into Remus, which led to Remus being pushed up against Sirius, who sat on the other side of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Remus’ brain went into overdrive, as he was practically on Sirius’ lap. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sirius turned to look at him, and shook his head at him, smirking. “That’s quite petty, Evans,” he whispered. Remus could feel Sirius’ breath on his neck. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily rolled her eyes. “Not really.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?” Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lily stared at him for a moment, before sighing and moving over. “Sorry.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Remus breathed out a sigh of relief as he slid back into his seat. Sirius had probably felt Remus’ racing heartbeat, being pressed up so close to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dorcas caught his eye from across the table, and raised her eyebrows, a smile hinting at her lips. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Flushing, he gave a small roll of his eyes. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Pay attention,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he mouthed, before turning to the Sorting Ceremony. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the ceremony was normal as it could be with Sirius looking so unfairly attractive </span>
  <em>
    <span>all the time</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and with Marlene </span>
  <em>
    <span>pointing it out</span>
  </em>
  <span> - it was fine. Remus was fine. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They eventually filed out of the Great Hall, chatter floating over the prefects who were trying to gather all the first years. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dorcas and Marlene slipped off to the Hufflepuff dorms, (but not before Sirius gave Marlene a kiss that really just seemed much too long,) and the Marauders headed off to Gryffindor tower. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lily’s disappeared,” James sighed. “We were just getting somewhere. We were just getting to be friends.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think that all hope is lost,” reassured Peter. “Just… go apologize to her, and I think it’ll be fine. She seemed to like being around you during the summer and on the train.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t just… walk up to her and apologize! Do you think she’ll listen?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, Lily’s a pretty reasonable person,” Sirius shrugged as they reached the dormitories. The Fat Lady was open, people coming in and out, and the Marauders maneuvered their way in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Speaking of Lily, there she is,” Remus said, nodding to the ginger who was sitting on one of the couches. “Come on.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, it’s fine, don’t want her to be mad -” James backed away a few steps. Remus shot out and grabbed his friends’ wrist, pulling him over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lily! So great to see you. That feast was great, wasn’t it? Anyways, James would like to talk to you. I’ll be going now, goodnight, Lils!” Remus rattled out, before hurrying back to Sirius and Peter. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Come on, quick, up to the dorms before James can follow,” Peter pushed them, and they scrambled up the staircase, laughing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, but honestly? I never thought James and Lily would even get to this point,” Sirius pointed out. “They became </span>
  <em>
    <span>friends</span>
  </em>
  <span> over the summer. If that’s possible, anything is.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Even you liking me back</span>
  </em>
  <span>? Remus thought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sirius grinned widely at him, no idea what Remus was thinking, and the smile stayed in Remus’ head until he fell asleep. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>i know this is their sixth year, and canonically lily stopped being friends with snape in 5th, but ignore cannon, that stuff sucks anyway <br/>thank you so much for the comments, they fuel me!! <br/>tumblr: siriusblackisgendergoals</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the first part of this chapter is from james' perspective!! i decided to switch it up a bit lol<br/>sorry for the long wait! i got slammed with a bunch of homework and didn't have much time to write</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>James and Lily stared at each other, the sounds of Remus and the rest of the Marauders tumbling up the stairs fading away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>James sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair. “Can I sit?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sat down, making sure to keep a respectable distance away from Lily, just in case. “I’m sorry that I argued with Snape.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay. I… I overreacted. But I just hate that you think that I have to be protected.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think that -” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, you do, James. But it’s not just me, I see how you are with all of your friends. You have the urge to protect them. But if we’re going to be friends, you can’t try and jump in and save me all the time, okay? I can handle myself.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>James swallowed, nodding slowly. He did try to do that, didn’t he? “Okay. You can handle yourself - wait! You want to be friends?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lily laughed, and James thought it was the most beautiful sound in the world. “James, I spent half a summer living with you, and I didn’t kill you. You’re actually… you’re not as bad as you used to be. I do want to be friends with you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Yeah, I wanna be friends with you too,” James grinned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lily chewed on her lip. “Just friends, okay? You don’t get to date me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! No, no, it’s okay. Like you said! I’ve matured. I’m fine with not dating you, I really do enjoy your company as a friend.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was only sort of a lie. Of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course </span>
  </em>
  <span>he still had feelings for her - how could he not? But if just friends was what he was getting, then he would take it. And maybe… if she saw how cool of a friend, and just general person he was, then maybe she would give him a chance. Maybe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Great,” Lily smiled, and then leaned forward and hugged him. James froze for a split second before hugging her back, a smile lighting up his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Holy shit Lily Evans is hugging me I am getting a hug from Lily this is happening she is touching me, wow her hair smells nice - no that’s creepy - but oh my God she smells like flowers  this girl is literally a flower! </span>
  </em>
  <span>James’ thoughts were on overdrive, and he blinked a couple of times after they released each other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright! Goodnight, James,” Lily said, waving to him as she got off the couch and walked up the stairs to the girls dormitory. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Night,” James replied softly, watching her leave. Once she was gone, he rubbed his face. “She hugged me,” he whispered, shaking his head in amazement. “This is the best day of my life.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next day, James was positively beaming, and Remus had to admit that he was slightly jealous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like Remus would explode if Sirius hugged him, the two were quite touchy and close, which made Remus feel insanely nervous and insanely happy at the same time. But he wished that he was able to hug Sirius without feeling like the other boy would be able to tell that he had a crush on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now was one of the times where he felt insanely nervous, his cheeks heating up as Sirius peeked into their dorm room, hair wet from his shower, a towel wrapped around himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Moony, can you give me one of my binders?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus had to take a second for his brain to register the words, before clearing his throat and grabbing one from Sirius’ trunk. “Here,” he tossed it to his friend, trying his very best to only look at his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Sirius said, darting back into the bathroom to get changed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus flopped back on his bed, covering his red face. James and Peter had already left for class, but Sirius and Remus were going to go to transfiguration together, so Remus was waiting for Sirius to get out of the shower. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few minutes later Sirius popped out, and the two walked to their class, talking and laughing like normal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remus!” Dorcas waved as they walked in, pulling him down in the seat next to her. “Sit next to me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus paused, then smiled at her. “Of course.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glanced up, and something flickered over Sirius’ face - annoyance? Confusion? Remus couldn’t tell - and then it was gone, falling back to a neutral expression. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s okay, right Pads?” He asked, and Sirius nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be? I’ll sit with Frank,” Sirius said, sliding next to his friend, who was in the seat in front of Dorcas. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus and Dorcas looked at each other for a second, before Dorcas’ eyes lit up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you see his face?” Dorcas whispered. “He looked annoyed for a second!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I dunno… maybe he was confused?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would he be confused? Remus, he’s totally jealous. Even if he doesn’t know it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh…” Remus shrugged. “I guess. But it might just be because we always sit together when James isn’t in our class.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Exactly! He’s jealous that you’re not sitting with him!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus was about to respond when Sirius leaned back in his chair and turned to them with an amused look. “Why are you two whispering? Watcha talking about?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Homework,” Remus answered, at the same time Dorcas blurted, </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Werewolves.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sirius almost fell out of his chair, his eyes going comically wide. Remus stiffened. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Homework about werewolves,” he hurriedly tried to clarify.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And how they’re unfairly discriminated against,” Dorcas added, and Remus looked at her in surprise. Of course, Dorcas was his friend and a good person, but he didn’t know that she didn’t hate werewolves like most people. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Sirius nodded, clearing his throat. “Yeah, I agree.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Black! Class is starting, please turn around and focus on the board,” chided McGonagall as she swept through the classroom, and Sirius did as she said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Werewolves</span>
  </em>
  <span>?” Remus hissed to Dorcas once Sirius had turned back around. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know! Earlier today I passed Snape and his friends talking about how terrifying it would be if there was a werewolf at Hogwarts that nobody knew about, and it just got me mad, so it was the first thing I thought of.” She fixed Remus with a stern look. “You support werewolves, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh - yeah, yeah, of course!” Remus stuttered, a chill running through him at the thought of Snape talking about that. Dumbledore had forbidden him from telling people about how Remus was a werewolf, but this… It wasn’t technically telling people. It was slightly like spreading a rumor, but not really. Snape was just building up fear in people. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And it was working. Remus was scared. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yeah so im not going to update this consistently sorry KJDFSDJSFD</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was only the second week of school when Sirius had his first nightmare. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus was woken by his bed dipping and Sirius crawling in next to him, and he blearily turned over to look at his friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “Nightmare?” He whispered, and Sirius nodded mutely. Remus gathered him in his arms, and his eyes widened. “Sirius, you’re shaking.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” Sirius mumbled, shoving his face into Remus’ shoulder, fists gathering in his shirt. “I’m sorry.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, hey. You have nothing to be sorry for, okay? You’re safe here. You’re safe,” Remus whispered, running his hands through Sirius’ hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sirius took a long, shuddering breath, and burrowed closer to Remus. Remus pressed a kiss to his head, so light that he doubted his friend could feel it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sirius had been having nightmares ever since he came to Hogwarts. In his first year they were few and far between, seeing as the abuse in his household had yet to escalate to the terror it would soon be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But when he went home for the summer, his parents, angry that he had been sorted into Gryffindor, had decided to start using more… harsh methods to drill their ideas into Sirius. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That just made him rebel harder, which made his parents more determined to whip him into shape, which led to a vicious cycle of Sirius lashing out against his family and his parents inflicting extreme pain on him to try to get him to stop. The cycle lasted for years - until Sirius had enough, and ran away in his fifth year. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the nightmares stayed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Back in second year, when they got bad for the first time, James was the one to comfort Sirius, holding him and whispering jokes in his ear, staying up with him till the sun rose, just to distract him from it all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then third year came along, and the rest of the Marauders found out that Remus was a werewolf. One night after a particularly bad moon, James and Peter were in detention, and Sirius woke up panting from a nightmare. They had both been in so much pain. They had crawled into bed with each other, held each other, and just cried. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After that, Remus started comforting Sirius with his nightmares more and more until James saw that he wasn’t needed in this aspect of Sirius’ life, and stopped almost entirely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sirius would crawl into Remus’ bed after every full moon, and Remus soon found that if Sirius wasn’t with him after a moon, it would take hours to fall asleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But when they were in each other’s arms, no matter the occasion, it would only take seconds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the morning Sirius was fine, or at least he pretended to be. That was the thing about him - he never showed what he deemed to be weakness in the light. Anytime Sirius had ever opened up to him, it had been at night, or in a dark, silent room. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And now Remus’ eyes were fluttering open to sunlight streaming through the windows and Sirius stretching beside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Goodmorning!” Sirius greeted cheerfully, hopping out of the bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus yawned, instantly missing his warmth. “Morning.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Across the room, James yanked open Peter’s curtains. “Up and at ‘em, Petey! We’ve got </span>
  <em>
    <span>things </span>
  </em>
  <span>to do today.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sirius grinned at James. “Hell yeah we do!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys have a prank idea already?” Peter snorted. “Not surprised.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, no, we don’t. But we’ll figure out one later.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You mean </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll</span>
  </em>
  <span> figure out one later?” Remus smirked, and James laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re the mastermind, Moony. The cloak is in the bag, right?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Remus grabbed it, glancing in and spotting the shimmer of the cloak. “Yup,” he confirmed, sliding it back to James’ bed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful,” Sirius grinned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So the day began. School flew by fast, and sunlight filled the castle, putting Remus in a good mood. When his last class was over, he rushed up to Gryffindor Tower, a few prank ideas already rushing through his head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But when he pushed open the door to his dormitory and saw the rest of the Marauders sitting silently on James’ bed with the pranking bag in between them, his heart dropped to his stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s wrong?” He asked, gripping tight onto the door. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>James looked up at him with anxious eyes. “The invisibility cloak is gone.” </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>wow look its a cliffhanger<br/>also thank you all for your comments!! they motivate me <br/>tumblr: siriusblackisgendergoals</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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